Agitator for stoker hoppers



May 15, 1934. P. E. ROBERTS AGITATOR FOR STOKER HOPPERS Filed May 25. 1931 d A ill/11171111111111 \\\l gwuentow PM E 120m Patented May 15, 1934 UETED STAES rarer Fries AGiTATOR FOR STOKER, HOPPERS Application May 25, 1931, Serial No. 539,734

2 Claims.

This invention relates to an agitator for the hopper of a Stoker having a nature to be operable in an offset hopper to agitate the fuel in the hopper and cause the same to drain down to the stoker plunger and be carried into the fire box of the furnace.

A feature resides in an offset hopper structure for stokers in which suitable agitating means is operable in conjunction with the stoker feeding plunger.

It is also a feature to provide an agitator having a character to be slidably mounted on one wall of the hopper, the other end of the agitator being carried by the reciprocating plunger which feeds the fuel into the throat of the stoker which leads to the fire box.

The structure includes an agitator which may be readily replaced when it is desired and which is formed with a cutting blade-like body portion having sharp edges toward either side thereof which extend along longitudinally of the body of the agitator and to provide projecting members from the head or upper end of the agitator member which act to stir the fuel within the hopper and cause it to feed readily down into the base of the hopper to be engaged by the plunger and forced into the throat of the stoker.

The features will be clearly and fully set forth throughout the specification and claims.

In the drawing forming part of this specification:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side sectional elevation of the stoker, the offset hopper and a portion of the furnace with which the stoker is adapted to operate.

Figure 2 is an enlarged detail section of a portion of the oifset hopper and agitator therefor, one position of the agitator being illustrated in dotted outline.

Figure 3 is an enlarged section on the line 33 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is an enlarged section of the agitator blade on the line 4-4 of Figure 2.

The stoker A is of a construction as illustrated in Figure 1 and may be of any suitable nature, the stoker illustrated being only diagrammatic to show the relative position and operation of the parts.

An offset fuel hopper B is positioned to be associated with the stoker A in a manner to feed fuel from the enlarged upper hopper portion 10, through the inclined portion 11, down into the base of the hopper 12, so that the fuel within the hopper B may be carried to the plunger 13 which is adapted to feed the fuel into the throat 14 of the stoker A.

The Stoker A is illustrated as applied to a furnace C and the throat 14 connects with the fire pot 15 which has the upper grate 16 for the fire in the furnace C.

The hopper B is offset in a manner so that the head or upper portion 10 of the same is spaced away from the fire door 17 of the furnace C, and this permits inspection of the fire through the fire door C at any time that it is desired. The offset of the hopper B may be as great as is desired and in conformity with the position and arrangement of the stoker A.

The hopper B carri s the fuel as set forth in a manner to feed the same steadily to the fuel injecting plunger 13. The plunger 13 is adapted to be reciprocated back and forth by the piston D of the stoker A and connected to the piston 13 I provide a scraper 18 which is attached to the plunger 13. This scraper or agitator 18 is provided with blades 19 which extend up and are positioned in close proximity to the side walls 20 of the base 12 of the hopper B. The blades 19 are beveled on either side to provide suitable blade-like cutting members which agitate the fuel in the base 12 of the hopper B and. cause the same to freely slide down toward the plunger 13.

Above the scraper agitator 18 I attach an agitator blade 21 which has one end mounted by the bracket 22 to the plunger 13 to pivotally secure the same thereto, while the other end 23 of the agitator blade 21 is slidable upon the wearing plate 24 secured to the inner surface of the con stricted portion 11 of the hopper B.

The upper end 23 of the blade 21 carries stirring rods such as the transversely disposed rod 25 and the upwardly projecting rod 26 which may be of any suitable length and which are adapted to act to agitate the fuel within the hopper B about the upper end of the agitator blade 21. The agitator blade 21 is formed with sharp offset side edges 27 as illustrated more particularly in Figure 4.

The agitator blade 21 is offset at 28 as illustrated in Figure 2 to shape the blade 21 in a manner to position the same within the offset hopper B so that the blade 21 may reciprocate back and forth through the center of the lower end of the hopper B to agitate the fuel within the hopper B and cause the same to be stirred sufficiently to drain down to come in contact with the fuel inpecting plunger 13.

In operation, the agitator for the hopper B is reciprocated back and forth in conjunction with the fuel injecting plunger 13, while the scraper agitator 18 clears the side walls 20 of the portion 12 of the hopper B and causes the fuel to drain down freely in the hopper B to the plunger 13.

The offset hopper B provides a very material advantage for stokers in conjunction with a furnace, such as C, so that sufficient space is afforded in front of the fire door 17 to permit the opening and inspection of thefire through the doorway 17. This offset hopper with the ofiset agitator blade 21 operating within the same provides a very desirable structure to feed the fuel from the hopper B to the stoker A and to agitate the same within the offset hopper sufficiently to prevent sticking of the fuel. This structure permits the ready inspection of the fire in the furnace C.

The offset agitator blade 21 moves freely with the plunger 13 to cut through the center of the hopper B and thereby loosening the fuel within the hopper or preventing it from caking into a solid mass-like formation which would prevent the ready feeding of the same into the feeding throat of the stoker C. The reciprocation of the agitator blade 21 with its free upper end 23 resting upon the wearing plate 24 and carrying the stirring rods 25 and 26 provides a means of sufficiently agitating the fuel within the hopper B to cause the same to be carried readily down to the feeding plunger 13.

In accordance with the patent statutes I have described the principles of my agitator and offset hopper and I' desire to interpret the invention within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A fuel hopper, a stoker plunger reciprocably mounted in the base of said hopper, transverse scraper agitator blades rigidly secured to said plunger and a separate knife-like blade agitator centrally disposed and extending up into said hopper being adapted to be reciprocated by said plunger.

2. The combination, a fuel hopper for stokers and furnaces, a stoker mechanism having a. fuel feeding plunger reciprocable in conjunction with the base of said hopper and fuel agitating means including side wall agitators rigidly secured to said plunger, and separate centrally disposed forward Wall agitator means extending into said hopper to agitate the fuel therein and cause it to drain into position to be injected by said plunger into the furnace.

PAUL E. ROBERTS. 

